<gunncb@elec.canterbury.ac.nz> wrote:>>>Our nose looks the way it does because we have a flat face. Most other>>>primates have snouts and the direction of the nasal passage is due to>>>the fact that it sits on a snout that projects forward quit a bit.>>What a fascinating suggestion!> >>How is this an advantage?>>He did not say it was an advantage, only that it was an effect of the>change in our relative jaws sizes.

(my my aren't we defensive)
I did not say it was an advantage either. I'm just wondering
how it is an advantage. Or, to put it another way, why did
man develop a flat face? I, for one, have no idea. That's
why I asked.

>>So far, the only actual information you have presented was>>Pete Wheeler's explaination of hair loss and bipedalism. His>>theory is not without merit, but again I ask - if man was *so*>>hot that he would stand erect and lose his hair, would he>>not also get in the water to cool off? Especially since>>water cools so much better than air (as Pete Wheeler went>>This is bizare. Why would man get so hot suddenly in the first place?

Excuse me? What is bizarre about it? Man got hot because
the weather got hot.

>>to great lengths to explain). And especially since sweat>>needs to be replenished with frequent trips to the water>>anyway (a point that even Wheeler conceeds).> >I suspect this is nonsense, although understandable. The Australian aborigines>may be a good example of a hot-savanah living race as far as getting hot is `>concerned. They do not drink frequently during the day, although they>do urinate reguraly. They manage to do this by spending their mornings>drinking huge amounts from the local watering hole. They don't drink again>until evening.

I consider _spending their mornings_ to be frequent. What's your point?

>I suspect that a good explanation for the hairlessness/fat business may >go as follows: The advantages of fat are: insulation,

Fat provides no insulatory benifit.

>energy storage.

Why did man need more energy storage than other primate?

>The disadvantage is that it slows you down, more energy to move around.

Not in the water. It's buoyancy is an advantage in the water.

>Obviously fat apes would have trouble climbing trees. A disadvantage of>thicker fur is that it is a suitable habitate for lice, fleas etc.

Doesn't seem to have encouraged every other savannah mammal to lose hair.

>==> You would expect apes to have their hair thin out, and gain fat if they>stopped climbing trees so much, and were able to feed themselves easier.

No I wouldn't.

>Further, is sweating a superior for of heat loss?

superior to what? Hair? Yes it is.

>I seem to remember someone saying that men have more hair than dogs.>(number wise, possible count density).

So?

> One final point, could it be that the AAT ers are suggesting that the AA was>entering the hippo niche?

I'm not. I'm suggesting that man spent some time in the water.
I believe he did so because he was hot, because he needed to drink
water to replenish sweat, because there is food for which he
can out-compete others, and because it was safer than the savannah.